4/22/2013

HBM Reviews: Injustice: Gods Among Us

Sorry this review is late, I pre-ordered from Walmart. Now I know never to do that again for any reason ever. Anyway, time to review the new DC/NetherRealm Studio masterpiece; Injustice: Gods Among Us. I'm going by the PS3 version, so keep that in mind when I talk about controls.

The story is that, in an alternate universe, The Joker performed an elaborate plan that ended up with Lois Lane and her unborn baby dying, along with Metropolis being bombed, with all this being put on Superman's hands. In retaliation, Superman kills Joker and forms a league of super-somethings called the New Regime to make sure crime stops existing. In the main universe, Joker's about to bomb Metropolis when suddenly, he, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Green Arrow are transported to this alternate universe. Now, they have to find their way back home and combat the New Regime.

I already explained the controls in my thoughts on the demo, but I wasn't exactly clear on some things. Square, Triangle, and X are the normal attack buttons, O is the character gimmick button, L2 changes your stance, L1 grabs, R1 interacts with objects, and R2 acts as the Meter Burn button, which allows you to sacrifice some of your super meter to power up your attack. By pressing forward+X, you bounce the opponent off the ground, and by pressing back+X you knock them across the screen and back which, when near a certain side of certain stages, causes a transition, damaging the opponent and bringing both players elsewhere. L2+R2 activates your Super Move when your super meter is full. With this control scheme, Injustice is much more combo-friendly than Mortal Kombat, as you can easily create new, longer combos, depending on certain factors. It can make for very intense matches.

Like Mortal Kombat, there's a multitude of modes. For single player, there's the story mode, STAR Lab (mission mode), Battles (which has different objectives for you, like Classic mode, which is Arcade mode, and others), and Practice. In multiplayer, there's Local versus and Online, which has the standard options for online fighting games.

In the archives, you can unlock lots of stuff, like Hero Card stuff, Concept art, stage music, and alternate outfits. To unlock these things, you need to get access keys, which you get by leveling up. You get experience from the fights you play, and the better you do, the more experience you get. You can also view and edit your Hero Card, which has an icon, background, and profile picture. These are all images representing or taken from the characters of the game. I like it more than the profile things for other fighting games.

Overall, I say that this game may be better than MK. The combat and missions have more variety, there's plenty to do, and it's fucking DC characters duking it out in massive, epic fights! What's not to love! Ed Boon, head developer of NetherRealm Studios, says he hopes that Injustice will be a series and not just a one time thing. I support you there, Ed. Fingers crossed for an Injustice 2!